Currently released so far... 251287 / 251,287
Articles
Brazil
Sri Lanka
United Kingdom
Sweden
Global
United States
Latin America
Egypt
Jordan
Yemen
Thailand
Browse latest releases
Browse by creation date
Browse by origin
Browse by tag
Browse by classification
Community resources
courage is contagious
Viewing cable 10KUALALUMPUR61, SCENESETTER FOR VISIT TO MALAYSIA BY DEPUTY U.S.
If you are new to these pages, please read an introduction on the structure of a cable as well as how to discuss them with others. See also the FAQs
Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin |
---|---|---|---|---|
10KUALALUMPUR61 | 2010-01-28 11:07 | 2011-08-30 01:44 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Kuala Lumpur |
VZCZCXRO0258
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHKL #0061/01 0281107
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 281107Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3736
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUALA LUMPUR 000061
SIPDIS
DEPT PASS TO USTR: AMBASSADOR MARANTIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/28/2020
TAGS: ECON ETRD PROG PREL MY
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR VISIT TO MALAYSIA BY DEPUTY U.S.
TRADE REPRESENTATIVE AMBASSADOR MARANTIS
Classified By: Classified by Deputy Chief of Mission Robert G. Rapson f
or reason 1.4 (b and d)
Summary and Introduction
------------------------
¶1. (C) Ambassador Marantis, Embassy Kuala Lumpur warmly
welcomes your visit to Malaysia, which comes at a moment of
opportunity in U.S.-Malaysia relations. In his nine months
in office, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has demonstrated a
more pragmatic and action-oriented approach than his
predecessor and he appears to be more inclined to move
Malaysia at least some distance toward the international
mainstream on issues of importance to the United States. In
this context, our efforts are focused on expanding the trade
and investment dimensions of our ties, continuing our good
security cooperation with Malaysia, and deepening our
partnership on key global issues, including Malaysia's
diplomacy towards Iran and Afghanistan. Robust trade and
investment ties remain the solid foundation of our
relationship with Malaysia, our 18th largest trading partner.
Malaysia is studying the Trans Pacific Partnership
Initiative, but has given no indication yet as to whether or
not it will seek to participate.
¶2. (SBU) During your visit, we suggest you focus on the
following themes and objectives with your Malaysian
counterparts:
-- Reiterate the USG,s commitment to economic growth through
trade liberalization;
-- Highlight the priority the Administration is giving to the
Trans Pacific
Partnership initiative, and the role that the TPP will play
in promoting economic competitiveness and trade opportunities
in the region;
-- Encourage Malaysia, when it's ready, to engage TPP members
about process and requirements for joining.
End Summary and Introduction.
The Broader Relationship in Context
-----------------------------------
¶3. (SBU) Robust trade and investment ties remain the solid
foundation of our relationship with Malaysia, our 18th
largest trading partner (bilateral trade totaled USD 44
billion in 2008). The GOM has been an important partner on
counterterrorism when it serves Malaysia's own security
interests, and we enjoy expanding law enforcement cooperation
as well as evolving military-to-military ties. Mil-mil
engagement continues to expand in frequency and quality, as
is evidenced by the increase in ship visits over the last
four years, from approximately six per year to over 27 in
¶2009. Malaysia already hosts a regional Humanitarian
Assistance / Disaster Relief (HA/DR), and we have been
working to improve our disaster relief cooperation. Our
people-to-people ties build on decades of Malaysian students
studying in America (5,400 Malaysian students studied in the
U.S. during in 2007-2008). On the environmental front, we
anticipate that Malaysia will eventually support the
Copenhagen accord. The emergence of new administrations in
both our countries has provided expanded opportunities to
pursue vigorous public outreach to often-skeptical, but now
more receptive, Muslim Malay audiences.
Najib and His Cabinet Seek Better U.S.-Malaysia Ties
--------------------------------------------- -------
¶4. (C) PM Najib has a more nuanced sense than his
predecessor, Abdullah Badawi, of international politics as
well as Malaysia's place in the region and the world. Najib
places a priority on foreign relations beyond Malaysia's
traditional reference points of the Non-Aligned Movement
(NAM) and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
Although it would be inapt to describe Najib as pro-Western,
the UK-educated Prime Minister recognizes the benefits to
Malaysia of engaging the U.S., sustaining access to our
market and U.S. investment, along with rapidly developing
ties to China and India, and of participating in
international institutions. He has given explicit
instruction to his cabinet to improve relations with the
U.S. Over the past year, and with the advent of the new
U.S. administration, we have seen an uptick in the tempo of
our senior-level bilateral interactions, to include the
President's extended phone conversation with Najib in June,
Foreign Minister Anifah's meeting with Secretary Clinton in
DC in May, Deputy Secretary Steinberg's visit to Kuala
Lumpur in September, and Special Advisor Einhorn's visit in
October.
The Economy and Trade Relations with the U.S.
KUALA LUMP 00000061 002 OF 003
---------------------------------------------
¶5. (SBU) The global recession led to dramatic declines in
exports and investment in 2009 in Malaysia. Malaysia's
economy was estimated to have contracted by three percent in
2009 and is expected recover slowly in 2010. Hence, the
political stakes are high for Najib, who must ensure that the
economy continues to provide growth and prosperity to a large
middle class. Najib has used the recession to push forward
some economic reforms designed to improve Malaysia,s
competitiveness and Najib recognizes that more reforms are
needed. This potentially presents opportunities for our
trade and investment agenda specifically with regard to
market access issues related to government procurement and
competition policy, among others.
¶6. (SBU) While it is not yet ready to join, Malaysia is
interested in discussions related to the Trans-Pacific
Partnership regional trade agreement. If it decided to join,
it could make use of much of the work done during the
U.S.-Malaysia Free Trade Agreement negotiations. In a meeting
on November 17, Ministry of International Trade and Industry
(MITI) Secretary General Rahman told visiting AUSTR Weisel
that the Government of Malaysia understood that the U.S.
would be shifting its emphasis from bilateral to regional
trade negotiations. Rahman noted that MITI had been
preparing a paper to present to Cabinet seeking a mandate on
key outstanding issues related to concluding the bilateral
FTA and would now revise that paper to also raise questions
related to participation in the TPP. While Malaysia had not
yet considered seriously whether it would be interested in
joining the TPP, Rahman said he believed, given the U.S.
shift to a regional focus and the participation of countries
such as Vietnam, Malaysia needed to consider this course.
MITI contacts told Embassy officials that intergovernment
deliberations are ongoing, and that while the number of
ministries opposing TPP is small, some of them are very vocal
in their concerns.
Competition Policy and IPR Reforms Coming Soon
--------------------------------------------- -
¶7. (SBU) Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs
Secretary General Zain told Weisel that Malaysia had already
done a lot of work towards the goals of the original
U.S.-Malaysia FTA. He said that the new competition policy
law would likely be tabled in the parliament "early next
year." Government-linked companies would not be exempted
under the new law and the "competition commission"
established by the law would be independent, with limited
Ministry oversight. Reviewing Malaysia's progress in IPR
reforms, Zain said that Malaysia was in the process of
amending several acts, referring to the camcording law, and
possible changes to the data exclusivity in pharmaceutical
and medical product approval process. He said that Malaysia
would meet the standards that the U.S. had been seeking in
our bilateral FTA by the end of 2010.
Government Procurement
----------------------
¶8. (SBU) Commenting on possible liberalization of government
procurement, Zain noted that the domestic policy process for
consideration of changes is proceeding, but of all the areas
of economic policy reform, it was the most politically
sensitive and "would not be an easy task."
Domestic Politics
-----------------
¶9. (C) The broader domestic context is more settled than a
year ago, but worrisome factors are still embedded in the
system. Najib came to power as Prime Minister in April 2009
in the midst of domestic political discord that raises
long-term questions regarding the continued dominance of his
ruling UMNO party, in power since independence in 1957. He
replaced former PM Abdullah Badawi, who was eased out after
the ruling National Front (BN) coalition lost its
near-perpetual two-thirds majority control of Parliament--and
five of 13 states--in the March 2008 general elections. Najib
successfully presided over the October 2009 UMNO national
convention, which bolstered his leadership, but is finding it
challenging to identify and implement popular political
reform measures while maintaining UMNO's tight control over
state levers of power and patronage. Opposition leader Anwar
Ibrahim remains at risk of imprisonment over what most
observers would agree are politicized charges of sodomy; his
trial begins on February 2. Malaysia has a long record of
religious tolerance, but non-Muslims are concerned about what
they see as creeping Islamization of Malaysian society. A
KUALA LUMP 00000061 003 OF 003
contentious issue in January was whether non-Muslim
Malay-language religious publications could use the word
"Allah" to refer to God, which has lead to widespread public
discord and, from January 8-11, arson attacks on at least
twelve Christian churches in five different states. The
government recently made three sets of arrests in connection
with the attacks.
Foreign Policy: UN, Middle East/Iran, and ASEAN
--------------------------------------------- ---
¶10. (C) Malaysia's foreign policy is not well aligned with
that of the United States. Instead, it is Non-Aligned
Movement (NAM)-centric which leads Malaysia to vote opposite
the U.S. position on almost all important UN issues. Malaysia
claims to enforce the letter of UNSCR resolutions, but it has
not entered into the spirit of putting pressure on Iran to
relinquish its nuclear weapons development programs. U.S.
support for Malaysia joining the Somalia anti-piracy Contact
Group was a useful start to moving Malaysia toward more
engagement in multilateral security structures. Malaysia is a
leading member of ASEAN, and could play a more positive role
in Southeast Asian conflict resolution and ASEAN's approach
to Burma to bring about democratic change in that country.
The one foreign policy issue that resonates most profoundly
with the Malaysian public is the Israel-Palestine conflict,
where predominantly Muslim Malaysians (55 percent of the
population) identify with the Palestinians and criticize U.S.
support of Israel.
Non-proliferation and Export Control Law
----------------------------------------
¶11. (C) The GOM supports the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
regime, with emphasis on the need for all countries to
denuclearize. Malaysia claims to enforce the letter of UNSCR
resolutions, but it has not entered into the spirit of
putting pressure on Iran to relinquish its nuclear weapons
development programs, perhaps primarily due to the widespread
public perception here that Iran's denial of a weapons
program can be taken at face value. We remain concerned that
Malaysia remains a key transit point for proliferation
activities. Equally of concern has been the lack of momentum
in passage of an export control law, which is critical for
Malaysia to be able to take the kind of actions we want to
stem growth in transshipments of sensitive technologies to UN
proscribed entities. Most recently, we are paying close
attention to the recent disclosure that two F-5 jet engines
have disappeared. The disappearance of the engines, whose
use and distribution is regulated by an agreement between the
U.S. and Malaysia, could be a simple case of graft, but we
cannot discount the possibility that they were smuggled to a
third country like Iran. The GOM is investigating and has
indicted two individuals.
KEITH